Educational Resources
Children are often with their teachers 7 hours a day, making teachers an important person in their lives. With the implementation of Erin’s Law, educators now have the opportunity to teach children how to protect themselves from child abuse, including sexual abuse. Research conducted by Ferreira et al. (2022) and Gubbels et al. (2021) show that school-based programs for child abuse prevention are an effective means to increasing students’ knowledge of child abuse and their self-protection skills. It was also shown that retention of knowledge decreased after 2 years, supporting the need for annual instruction. Gubbels et al. (2021) also showed that training was more effective when the programs were taught by trained personnel.
Visit the resources below to help your school plan age-appropriate child sexual abuse and violence prevention programs.
Fight Child Abuse
This free site offers age-appropriate lessons and resources for schools.
Speak Up
Leaders can use this train-the-trainer model to educate their staff on child abuse and awareness prevention.
Educate to Protect
This site offers research-based interactive lessons that are age-appropriate for grades K-6. *There is a cost involved with this curriculum.
Family & Child Abuse Prevention Center
For schools looking for outside support, this site offers a free curriculum with additional support.
References:
Ferreira, E. R., Aznar-Blefari, C., Filho, S. R. P., & Zibetti, M. R. (2022). Integrative review addressing the effectiveness of child sexual abuse preventive interventions. Child Psychology, 24(2), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.5935/1980-6906/ePTPCP13373.en
Gubbels, J., van der Put, C. E., Stams, G. J. M., & Assink, M. (2021). Effective components of school-based prevention programs for child abuse: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 24, 553-578. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-021-0035305